There were two great divisions of MediÆval Ecclesiastics, the Major Orders and the Minor Orders.

The Major Orders included the Archbishop, the Bishop, the Priest, the Deacon or Gospeller, and the Sub-deacon, or Patterner, as Chaucer calls him.

The Minor Orders comprised the Acolyte (symbol, a candle), the Exorcist (a holy water vessel), the Doorkeeper (a key), the Lector (a key), and in some cases the Sexton.

In the monastic times all these had the shaven crown or tonsure.

For many centuries ecclesiastical vestments remained unchanged, those used in the Church at the Conquest being practically identical with those used at the time of the Reformation.

The everyday garment was the cassock, a long garment with long sleeves, made of heavy woollen material. It was generally black or brown in the case of the inferior clergy, and scarlet for Doctors of Divinity.

In cold weather the cassock was frequently lined with sheepskin or fur, was provided with a hood, and was girded with a thick knotted cord or cingulum. The vestments or ceremonial garments, worn when officiating at the services of the Church, were much more elaborate. A long, close-fitting white garment, like a coat with narrow sleeves, reaching to the feet, was worn by all, even to the doorkeeper. It was called the alb, and was confined at the waist by a girdle.

Priests and dignitaries of the Church had six pieces of embroidered needlework or cloth of gold called apparels fastened to the alb, at the bottom of the skirt before and behind (2), on the wrist of each sleeve (2), and on the breast (1) and back (1).

Around the neck was worn the amice: It was a kind of large linen handkerchief, with embroidered work along one of its sides. It was turned down like a collar, showing the embroidery (which appears in brasses like a collar), and leaving the throat of the wearer exposed.

A stole or narrow embroidered band was hung around the neck, reaching nearly to the feet, the ends being fringed.

In brasses only the ends appear, the upper portions being covered by the other vestments.

A short piece of embroidered work called the maniple, with ends fringed like the stole, was worn over the left arm, being fastened to the sleeve. At the time of the Conquest the maniple was a napkin with which the priest wiped his face and brow during Mass.

Over the other vestments was worn a circular or oval garment called a chasuble. It had an opening in the centre through which the head was thrust, and its ample folds rested at either side upon the arms. It was worn plain or with an embroidered border.

In later times the chausuble and alb were sometimes made of coloured materials.

The chasuble, maniple, and stole were all of the same material and colour.

The priest wore these vestments during the services, and when he died he was buried in them.

They were put on in the following order: Amice, alb, maniple, stole, and chasuble, and they are often spoken of as the “eucharistic vestments.”

Bishops and Mitred Abbots wore the same vestments as priests, but with the addition of the tunicle and dalmatic below the chasuble, sandals, gloves, a ring set with precious stones on the third finger of the right hand, mitre, and pastoral staff.

The dalmatic was a garment shorter than the alb, slit up for a distance on either side. (Pl. 59, Fig. 3.) Like the chasuble, it was made of rich material.

The tunicle, worn underneath the dalmatic, was similar to it in shape, but made of linen.

The only ecclesiastical ornaments which underwent any change were the mitre and crozier.

At first the mitre was of white linen, and low in height. As time went on it was made of silk and ornamented with embroidery and jewels, and it became higher in form. (From the time of the Reformation the mitre was not recognised as part of episcopal attire in the Established Church, but in 1885, after a lapse of 50 years, it was resumed by the Bishop of Lincoln, who wrote it then for the first time amid considerable protests.)

The Pastoral Staff, or so-called crozier, was borne alike by Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots, and was usually held in the left hand or against the left arm, leaving the right free to be uplifted in blessing. It terminated in a large shepherd’s crook or scroll, the curved volute being often richly ornamented with foliage. The staff was made of rarer wood, such as cedar or ebony, and was shod with a pointed ferrule. The top was detachable, and was usually made of metal or of ivory.

Before Archbishops was also carried a Cross, a staff bearing a cross at the top. They also wore the pall, or palium, a narrow loop or circle of white lambswool placed over the shoulders, with a weighted band hanging down before and behind. Looked at from the front, it appears like the letter Y. It was made only in Rome, and was especially bestowed on all Archbishops by the Pope.

In processions the clergy wore cassock and surplice as they do now, with the almuce, a large cap turned down over the shoulders, and lined with fur, which varied in colour according to the degree of the wearer; the hood and the cope. The cope was a kind of cloak, and became the most gorgeous of mediÆval ecclesiastical garments. It was made in every conceivable colour, and heavily adorned with the richest gold work encrusted with jewels.

When spread out flat, it was in shape a perfect semi-circle, and was decorated at the front edges with bands of embroidery from collar to hem.

A famous cope is the Syon Cope now preserved in the South Kensington collection.

In the Middle Ages the clergy, when not engaged in their official duties, often dressed similarly to the laity, and though they were ordered to wear the tonsure and a sober dress, these instructions were very often neglected and ignored.

Many of them dressed in bright colours, often in the extreme of fashion, wearing knives at their girdles, brightly coloured shoes with long toes, and jewellery.

At the time of the Reformation, when the English clergy abandoned the mediÆval robes, they also desisted from wearing the tonsure, which had for many centuries been the distinguishing mark of the clergy, and they seem generally to have adopted the academical dress for their official and ordinary attire.